Dr. Andrew Maxwell is the Bergeron Chair in Technology Entrepreneurship at the Lassonde School of Engineering, York University (Toronto), where he teaches courses in Technology Entrepreneurship, Renaissance Engineering and Technology Commercialization. He has received multiple teaching awards, including Educator of the year at Lassonde (2018).
Andrew combines practical experience, (20 years in technology multinationals; co-founding four technology startups), economic development activities (founded the University of Toronto’s Exceler@tor incubator, helped seventy startups obtain seed funding) and academic excellence (teaching technology entrepreneurship at University of Waterloo, technology Commercialization at Rotman). He completed his Heizer Award Winning Ph.D. in Business Angel Decision Making at the University of Waterloo, and subsequently launched VentureStart an online course for technology entrepreneurs (funded by FedDev, and delivered by the Canadian Innovation Centre (Waterloo)). Maxwell’s work experience includes founding four technology companies and working in two technology multinationals. He has an MBA from the London Business School and a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College London.
Helen Leighton is a highly experienced HR and business leader, leadership and organizational development professional, collaborative and strategic partner, and executive coach. Known for developing and implementing practical solutions that yield improved results, she is a trusted advisor able to work with senior leaders through building high-trust and productive relationships across organizations, functions, and levels.
She has a proven ability to step into different situations and environments, swiftly establish credibility and trust, determine objectives, assess requirements, and deliver value to individuals, teams and organizations.